Wang Jing, the king of remakes
"Wang Sibai" and "King of Remakes" are the nicknames given to the famous Hong Kong director Wang Jing in the film industry. The reason why he is called "Wang Sibai" is because the number of movies he has directed and produced is as high as more than 400, which is staggering.
But if you take a closer look at the more than 400 films, you'll find an interesting secret: they're basically all based on four films and their remakes. Wang Jing makes a blockbuster movie, and then he will make several "remakes" with similar themes, styles, and character settings.
Taking his masterpiece "Hardcover Chasing Girls" as an example, from the first remake to the third part, and then successively filmed "Sister Chapters" such as "Best Loss Friend" and "Courtship Death Squad".
When other directors' movies become popular, Wang Jing will quickly follow up and launch works of a similar style to gain popularity.
It can be seen that if there is anyone who is most qualified to win the title of "remake king", I am afraid it must be director Wang Jing. He can be said to be both enthusiastic and good at remakes of his old movies, just looking for similar forms and styles, even if the plot is not related, he will launch it horizontally.
"Boss Lady 2": The 7th stir-fry "Chasing the Dragon"
Director Wang Jing's latest film "Boss Lady 2", although the title suggests that it has some connection to another "Boss Lady" starring Xu Dongdong, is actually completely different - this is just Wang Jing's 7th time rehashing her blockbuster movie "Chasing the Dragon" 5 years ago.
Many of the plots and details in "The Boss Lady 2" are almost all pieced together from old movies such as "Chasing the Dragon" and "Chasing the Tiger and the Dragon" as they are.
The code name of the heroine White Rose is clearly a tribute to the "Black Rose" of Qiu Shuzhen, who worked with Wang Jing in the past; With her cold face, Wang Jing wants to use the movie to set off a wave of collective memories of the Hong Kong underworld.
In order to attract attention, director Wang Jing also deliberately let the heroine Xu Dongdong dew a lot of points, which aggravated the flirtatious scenes. While making the audience pleasing to the eye of Xu Dongdong's bright and moving figure, it also cleverly continued Wang Jing's consistent business orientation of "color, fragrance, and flavor".
However, the problem is that this is the 7th time that director Wang Jing has stirred up the theme of "Chasing the Dragon". Blindly relying on curiosity and flirting to stimulate the audience's interest may not be enough, because the audience is not a nerd, and they have long seen the signs of the old-fashioned.
The success of this time depends on whether the upcoming "The Legend of Qiao Feng" can keep the box office.
A common problem with Wang Jing's films
It is true that director Wang Jing, who has been in business for a long time, has obvious traces of commercial operations in many of the films he has shot. In the selection of materials and shooting, he usually only pays attention to the hard indicator of "whether it can make money", and rarely considers the artistic value and word-of-mouth accumulation of his works.
Wang Jing prefers to collect the so-called "eyeball elements", that is, flirtatious flirtatiousness to please the public's taste, kung fu in bed, and so on. He is good at grasping a certain theme and making a big fuss, repeatedly remaking the same story, trying to squeeze the last drop of its commercial value, and this "Boss Lady 2" is a typical case.
In fact, if you think about it carefully, the original IP of "Chasing the Dragon", in the first few high-intensity remakes, many of the wonderful plots and characters have been squeezed dry. Director Wang is still doing his own thing, and whether this time is successful or not depends on whether the upcoming "The Legend of Qiao Feng" can keep the box office.
If you still sell for money, I believe that Jin Yong's novel series will not escape the fate of being repeatedly hyped by him.
Director Wang, let's stop it
We all understand that Director Wang's ambition and skill as a businessman are among the best in this circle. But after all, film is not just a business, it bears more cultural and artistic responsibilities, and needs to have an original and enterprising spirit.
blindly remakes mechanical remakes are simply trying to deceive the audience. This not only undermines the dignity of filmmakers, but also betrays the support and trust that has been maintained for so many years.
Many of Director Wang's early classics are still full of aftertaste, and there are countless masterpieces. This proves that as long as you study hard and continue to give full play to your strengths, you will be able to write a more wonderful chapter for Hong Kong films.
So, it's still the same sentence, Director Wang, you have fried the bowl of cold rice 5 years ago in "Chasing the Dragon" 7 times, and it's boring to turn it over and over, and the audience is tired of watching it.
This time, please use your brains to create some new stories and new scripts, your talent deserves to be better displayed on the stage.